Georgia is one of the three south Caucasus countries, situated between the Black and Caspian seas alongside Azerbaijan and Armenia. Once considered the darling of the West, it has slid into an anti-Western autocracy aligned with Russia. Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgia's richest man, along with the Georgian Orthodox Church, halted the country's westward trajectory and delivered it into Russia's orbit.
Georgia's shift has made it a less reliable partner for the "middle corridor" for trade and energy that links China and Central Asia to Europe, bypassing Russia.
Georgian Dream (GD), founded by Ivanishvili, came to power in 2012. It initially hewed to the pro-Western course charted by its predecessors, especially former president Mikheil Saakashvili. In 2023 the EU formally accepted Georgia as a candidate for membership, galvanised by Russia's invasion of Ukraine—though Georgia was delayed by doubts over its qualifications.
GD, once a coalition of parties, became a vehicle for Ivanishvili's business interests. Officials began to hound LGBT groups. Georgia pledged not to help Russia evade Western sanctions but refused to impose any of its own. Analysts say Ivanishvili sensed that his patronage network was at stake and panicked: "He understood that if he passed all these reforms, de-oligarchisation, the rule of law and human rights, he would lose power," says Kornely Kakachia, head of the Georgian Institute of Politics.
Since the general election in 2024, which was marred by claims of fraud, GD's consolidation of power has gone into overdrive. An opposition boycott of parliament handed GD uncontested control over the chamber. A law on "foreign agents", coupled with the end of USAID-backed programmes after that agency was dismantled by the Trump administration, has gutted civil society. In late 2024 the government halted accession talks with the EU, sparking large protests.
On November 6th 2025 prosecutors charged eight leading opposition figures, including Saakashvili, with plotting a coup; they face up to 15 years in prison. Six are already behind bars. A week earlier GD asked the constitutional court to outlaw Georgia's three largest opposition parties. The judiciary, including the constitutional court, is beholden to GD. Dozens of protesters have been arrested; some have been jailed merely for wearing a face mask or blocking traffic. Human-rights violations are widespread and the system of checks and balances is "as good as gone", the EU concluded in a recent report.
The opposition is weak, divided and in many cases burdened by its own record of abuse and corruption when it was in power. Local elections in October 2025 delivered a sweeping victory for GD.
The pivot away from Europe has gone hand in hand with increasing dependence on Russia. Russia now accounts for 45% of Georgia's oil imports, up from 8% in 2012. In early October 2025 a Georgian refinery on the Black Sea received a shipment of more than 100,000 tonnes of Russian crude, a first. Georgia has also become a key transit hub for cars headed for Russia. Analysts speak of massive, undocumented inflows of Russian money helping to power Georgia's economy—GDP grew by 9.4% in 2024. Mentioning such matters can be dangerous: the latest charges against the opposition include supplying foreign governments with information about Georgia's economic relations with Russia.
GD officials argue that sanctions against Russia "would mean suicide" for Georgia, which was invaded by Russia in 2008 and still has two large enclaves under Russian control.
Prime minister Irakli Kobakhidze recently travelled to China, which he called "the world's only peaceful superpower", to tout Georgia as a gateway to Europe. GD has also courted MAGA: in 2025 Kobakhidze penned at least two letters to Donald Trump pleading for him to remove sanctions imposed on Georgia in 2024 and to team up against the "deep state" and the "Global War Party". Trump has not replied.
On paper, the government remains committed to joining the EU, but imagines it can do so on its own terms. GD appears to believe that populist-right leaders will soon win power across the EU and roll out the red carpet for Georgia. Critics call GD a Russian proxy, but analysts disagree: "They're not guided by any love of Russia," says Kakachia. "This is a strategy for regime survival."
A chronic disposition to inquiry deprives domestic felines of vital qualities.